Just in Case it Matters to You
Weekly Report 17-23
- ROBOT-TO-WORKER RATIOS ARE RISING RAPIDLY. In Korea nearly 5:1, Japan & Germany close to 3:1, America now over 1.6:1. Percentage of jobs at risk in U.S. cities include 54% in Fresno, 49% in Las Vegas, 47% in Los Angeles, nearing 42% in San Francisco, and over 40% in New York. Jobs particularly at risk include: 97% of insurance underwriters, farm laborers & fast food cooks; 88% of construction workers; 79% of truck drivers; and 68% of mail carriers. These are the realities that are prompting an increasing call for ‘Basic Universal Income’ – a fixed allowance sufficient for ‘subsistence’ above the official ‘poverty level,’ provided to all state citizens at scheduled intervals. A countrywide program in the U.S., at $10,000 average subsidy, is projected costing around $3.2 trillion; If only applied to households earning below $100K and social security recipients are excluded, the number is halved. [FUTURISM.COM – May 26,17]
- THE ‘OPEN OFFICE’ CONCEPT IS APPROPRIATELY DYING. Workspace with managers and even CEOs stationed at desks in the middle of the workforce still pervades nearly 70% of U.S. offices, but is increasingly being converted back to the “old fashioned private office” structure. Analysis of over 100 studies on workspace efficiency has confirmed that open offices “hurt worker motivation and ability to focus… as employees feel self-conscious working under their bosses gaze” and managers waste time seeking empty conference rooms for conversations needing privacy. [WALL STREET JRNL – May 22, 17]
- ‘BIG DATA’ IS ‘REVOLUTIONIZING SOCIAL SCIENCE just as the microscope and telescope transformed natural sciences… as a result, the days of academics devoting months to recruiting a small number of undergraduates to perform a single test will come to an end, and conclusions that researchers will be able to reach will be the stuff of science, not pseudoscience… Modern microeconomics, sociology, political science and quantitative psychology all now depend to a large extent on surveys of at most a few thousand respondents. In contrast, there are four unique powers of Big Data: providing new sources of info; capturing what people actually do or think, rather than what they tell pollsters; enabling comparison of demographics or geographic subsets; and allowing for speedy randomized controlled trials that demonstrate not just correlation but causality.” [THE ECONOMIST – May 27, 17]
- ‘MAJOR SPORT’ HAS BECOME AN ENTERPRISE IN MODERN SOCIETY which “appears to have lost much of its original values base and idealism, at the behest of power brokers within governments, business and media to own our allegiance… along with international sports bodies who control the destiny & sovereignty of sporting nations through their decisions.” Moreover, the waning influence of conventional religion has created a “spiritual vacuum into which sports may be taking its place” – with costumes (uniforms), rituals (chants, symbols, dances), shrines (stadiums), services (games, events), High Priests (celebrity athletes), daily interface (sponsorship, promotion, merchandising), demands for loyalty & commitment, and in many ways “establishing and encouraging a set of values that promote selfishness and anti-social behaviors, while often actively condoning violence against rival sects (teams).” [THINKING CREATIVELY IN TURBULENT TIMES – WORLD FUTURE SOCIETY]
- THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK: Forgotten why much of the world thinks Americans are idiots? https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8G2Mwid5GrCU3RrRUJWWXhWbHc/view
“No one ever considers himself ‘expert’ if he really knows his job… since he sees so much more to be done that he is always pressing forward and never gives up an instant of thought to how good and how efficient he is. Thinking always ahead and always of trying to do more brings a state of mind in which nothing is impossible. The moment one gets into the ‘expert’ state of mind, a great number of things become impossible.” – Henry Ford